Browsing by Subject "psykopatia"

Objective. Psychopathy is linked to income and years of employment. Unemployment, then, is a risk for both the individual and the society and can complicate the integration of psychopaths to the society. Yet, research on the relationship of psychopathy and unemployment is scarce. Psychopathy is thought to be divided into subtypes called prototype and successful psychopaths. The latter are traditionally viewed as more intelligent than prototype psychopaths. The aim of this study was to examine the predictive power of psychopathy to unemployment separately in legal and illegal work contexts. The moderating effect of intelligence was also explored. Methods. The data of the current study was employed from the Pathways to Desistance study. The data consisted of juvenile offenders collected from 2000 to 2010 in Phoenix and Philadelphia, in the United States (n=1083). The participants were 14 to 19 in the beginning of the study. Psychopathic traits were assessed with PCL:YV and intelligence with WASI at the seventh year follow-up. The relationship between psychopathy was assessed with binary logistic regression analysis. Results and discussion. Psychopathic traits and lower intelligence predicted the risk of unemployment in the legal work context. In the under-the-table context, psychopathy increased the risk of unemployment only among those with lower intelligence. The risk for unemployment among psychopathic individuals can be explained by their personality, psychopathology and the continuance of antisociality. The findings indicate that psychopathy has a consistent negative impact on employment and give partial support for the protective ability of intelligence but do not support the concept of successful psychopathy. The reforming impact of work and job opportunities might be different for psychopathic individuals. Therefore, further research is needed to develop effective solutions to political decision-making and enhanced integration practices.

Aivoja tutkivien tieteiden kehityksen myötä nk. aivojenjäljittelyteknologia on noussut yleisen mielenkiinnon kohteeksi, herättäen ihmisissä sekä innostusta että vastustusta. Aiemmissa tutkimuksissa aivojenjäljittelyteknologian hyväksyttävyyttä koskevia arvioita on tarkasteltu suhteessa erilaisiin selittäviin taustamuuttujiin, kuten persoonallisuuteen ja arvoihin. Tutkimatta on kuitenkin toistaiseksi ollut erilaisten moraaliperiaatteiden yhteys aivojenjäljittelyteknologiaa koskeviin asenteisiin. Tässä tutkielmassa koetellaan aiemmissa kokeissa havaittujen ilmiöön liittyvien yhteyksien toistettavuutta, sekä uutena elementtinä tutkitaan välineellisen vahingonteon hyväksymisen sekä psykopatian yhteyttä aivojen jäljittelyä koskeviin moraaliarvioihin. Tutkimuksen hypoteesit esitettiin rakenneyhtälömallissa, joka esirekisteröitiin ennen aineistonkeruuta. Aineisto kerättiin kyselytutkimuksena internet-pohjaisesti Prolific-tutkimusalustan kautta ja se koostui 1004 vastaajasta. Moraaliarvioita aivojäljittelyteknologiasta mitattiin aiemmin kehitetyn Aivojen jäljittelyn hyväksyttävyys -tarinan ja tähän liittyvän kysymysjoukon avulla. Taipumusta utilitaristiseen päätöksentekoon mitattiin Joshua Greenen moraalidilemmoilla sekä Oxford Utilitarianism Scale -mittarilla. Psykopatiaa mitattiin The Short Dark Triad -mittarilla. Esitetyn mallin yhteensopivuutta havaintoaineiston kanssa arvioitiin tarkastelemalla joukkoa ennalta määritettyjä yhteensopivuusindeksejä. Mallivertailun tulokset tukivat keskeisimpiä hypoteesejä. Erityisesti alttius hyväksyä vahingonteko yleisen edun nimessä oli yhteydessä aivojen jäljittelyn suurempaan hyväksymiseen. Ennakoitua yhteyttä psykopatian ja aivojen jäljittelyn hyväksymisen välillä ei havaittu, mutta psykopatiaan läheisesti liittyvän machiavellismi oli yhteydessä aivojen jäljittelyn suurempaan hyväksymiseen. Tulosten pohjalta esitettiin useita mahdollisia jatkotutkimushypoteesejä. Tutkimuksen toivotaan edistävän kysymysten ympärillä käytävää vuoropuhelua ja auttavan erilaisten teknologista kehitystä koskevien eettisten arvostelmien ymmärtämisessä.

Objective Psychopathy is closely associated with criminality. There has been disagreement among researchers whether the psychopathy construct is applicable to children and adolescents. However, studies suggest that psychopathy is a life-long disorder. Biological, as well as environmental factors influence the development of psychopathic traits, although psychosocial risk factors of psychopathy - especially in the case of juveniles - are not well known. The first aim of the study was to examine whether adolescent's psychopathy can be predicted with seven familial and parental risk factors. The second aim was to examine whether adolescent's psychopathy can be predicted with cumulative risk. Methods The data included 14-19 year-old juvenile offenders (n=1293). Psychopathic traits were assessed with PCL: YV. Based on interviews with parents or other collateral reporters, five risk factors were assessed: parental mental problems, parental substance abuse, parental criminality, yearly household income and adolescent's history of social services. Parental monitoring and knowledge were assessed using The Parental Monitoring inventory. Cumulative risk was constructed dichotomizing each risk factor and then summing the dichotomous scores. The associations between risk factors and adolescent's psychopathic traits were examined with linear regression analysis. The association between cumulative risk and psychopathic traits were examined with ANOVA. Results and conclusions Parental mental problems, parental drug and alcohol problems, parental criminality, low parental monitoring, low parental knowledge and adolescent's history of social services predicted adolescent's psychopathy. However, after controlling the effects of other risk factors, only parental monitoring, parental knowledge and adolescent's history of social services remained significant predictors of psychopathy, as the effects of the other variables were explained by these three risk factors. Household income was not associated with adolescent's psychopathic traits. In addition, the more risk factors one had, the more he/she had psychopathic traits on average. This information can be applied in preventing psychopathy, improving treatment of psychopathy and reducing criminality.

Goals. Violence is a significant problem in society, thus it is important to recognize its predisposing factors. Psychopathy has been identified as one of the factors that significantly increases the risk for violent behaviour. The core characteristics of psychopathy include manipulation, the absence of feelings of remorse and guiltiness, as well as the inability for empathy. Other factors that may increase the risk of violent behaviour have also been identified, but it is unclear whether these factors retain their effects regardless of the level of psychopathy. In order to prevent the violent behaviour in psychopathic adolescents it is important to identify the factors that increase the risk of violent behaviour and alter the association between psychopathy and violence. The factors regarding family, such as monitoring and the quality of relationship between the parent and the child, have been surveyed to some extent. Some of the results are promising. Neither the socioeconomic status nor performance in school has been surveyed before but it is possible that these factors decrease the risk of violent behaviour. The goal for this study is to examine whether monitoring, good parent-child relationship, good socioeconomic status and good school performance decrease the risk of violent behaviour regardless of the level of psychopathy. In addition, the study examines whether these factors alter the association between psychopathy and violence. Methods. The survey sample is a part of Juvenile Delinquency in Finland 2012 –dataset which is a nationally representative self-report survey. The sample consists of 4855 ninth grade students who completed the survey anonymously online during a school day. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the study questions. Results and conclusions. Monitoring, good parent-child relationship, and good school performance was discovered to reduce the risk of violent behaviour regardless the level of psychopathy. In addition, these factors as well as socioeconomic status altered the association between psychopathy and violence. According to the results the association between psychopathy and violence is weaker in the case of good socioeconomic status than in low socioeconomic status. This result is promising and can indicate that with financial wealth a psychopathic adolescent is less likely to utilize violence to achieve their goals. Furthermore, the results concerning monitoring, good parent-child relationship and good school performance give hope to the notion that these factors may reduce the risk of violence even in adolescents with psychopathic traits. However, more research is needed to make solid conclusions.

Aims. Adolescence is crucial time for establishing friendships. It is known that personality traits are associated with the quality and the characteristics of the friendships. Psychopathy is a personality disorder, which includes significant abnormalities in interpersonal, affective and behavioral traits. The aim of this study was examine the relationship between youth's psychopathic personality traits and the quality of their friendship. We also examined the associations with the characteristics of the friends. The results of the earlier studies are somewhat conflicting. Based on the earlier studies, we hypothesize that the psychopathic personality traits are associated with the poorer quality and support of the friendships. We also assumed that the psychopathic personality traits are associated with the criminal and psychiatric characteristics of friends. It was assumed that the primary traits of psychopathy were more strongly associated with the quality of friendship than the secondary traits. We also controlled the family-based variable, the parental warmth, to examine the independent explanatory power of the psychopathic personality traits. Methods. The data and the subjects were gathered from the American longitudinal study "The Pathways to Desistance". In this cross-sectional study the sample consisted from 1238 youths, who were convicted of serious criminal acts. The subjects' age range from 14 to 19 years. In this study we examine the psychopathic personality traits, the quality of friendship, the parental warmth, and the characteristics of friends. The associations were examined by using the linear regression analysis and the binary logistic regression analysis in two different databases. Results and conclusions. The psychopathic personality traits were associated with the poorer quality of friendship even when controlling the parental warmth found in youths' family. Youths, who were high on psychopathic personality traits, had higher probability of having friends who had criminal or psychiatric background, were older, and the frequency of contact were higher compared to the youths who were low on psychopathic personality traits. The results indicated that the psychopathic personality traits had an influence on perception of the support and the quality of friendship. These results help us to understand the social consequences of psychopathy for the youths themselves, and their friends. Personality traits can shape perceptions and probably lead to engagement with delinquent peers.

Goals. Small minority of chronic offenders commit disproportional amount of crime in society. However, efficient pre-emptive measures against crime can be seen benefiting everyone in the society. One challenging subgroup is considered to be offenders with high psychopathic traits. Yet psychopathy doesn't seem to be an obstacle for everyone in adjusting and being successful in society – at least when considering socioeconomic status and lack of conflicts with law enforcement. The goal of this study is to explore if parental characteristics and psychopathic traits could jointly be related with different paths to criminal and non-criminal lifestyle. Methods. This thesis employed data drawn from Pathways to Desistance Study. The data was collected between 2000 and 2010 in the United States. Participants were recruited from local court system after they were put on trial for a felony in Pennsylvania and in Arizona. In all 1051 adolescent males participated who were between the ages of 14 and 17 at the time of their crime. 94% of the participants were born in the United States, and together they formed multi-ethnic sample. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to explore the relationships between psychopathic traits, parental characteristics and re-offending after the trial. Also, the moderator effect of psychopathic traits on the relationship between parental characteristics and re-offending was explored. Used parental variables consisted of parental warmth, hostility, knowledge and monitoring of adolescent's spare time, and parents' socioeconomic status. Both aggressive offending and income offending were used as two separate outcome variables. The used crime rates were based on participants' self-reporting approximately two years after their trial. Results and conclusions. Higher level of parental hostility was found to be related to higher probability of offending. Parents' higher knowledge and monitoring of adolescent's spare time was found to be a related to lower probability of offending. Higher psychopathic traits increased the risk of offending. Psychopathic traits also moderated the relationship between parental hostility and offending. Parental hostility was found to be a risk factor for aggressive offending only among participants with low or moderate psychopathic traits but not among participants with high psychopathic traits. However, more research is needed to gain understanding of causality. Nevertheless, the results seem to highlight that among adolescents with high psychopathic traits effectiveness of interventions targeting delinquency is determined by how well their personality and unique characteristics are integrated into intervention strategies.

Psychopathy is a disorder characterized with unemotional and callous traits, grandiosity, tendency to lie and manipulate, adventurous and thrill seeking behavior, criminal versatility and unplanned, parasitic lifestyle. Psychopathic personality traits in adolescence are known to be associated with juvenile delinquency and early onset substance abuse. However, based on previous studies, it is difficult to reliably describe the relationship between unique features of psychopathy and the number of offences committed by an adolescent offender. This is mainly because few studies have controlled for the effects of other known factors contributing to antisocial behavior. The same goes for relationship between juvenile psychopathy and substance abuse. There are no published studies investigating the association between psychopathy and the assessment of one´s own overt antisocial behavior. The present study examined the association between psychopathy, number of committed offences and the degree of substance abuse among incarcerated juvenile offenders. The present study used data from the American Pathways to Desistance -research project where 14-18 years old adolescents (n = 1354) who had been found guilty for at least one serious offence were followed. The associations between psychopathic personality traits – as evaluated with PCL-YV method – and a) number of subject´s self-reported offences b) extent of subject´s self-reported substance abuse were examined with linear regression models that controlled for number of known correlates for antisocial behavior. The same analyses were carried out for discrepancy between subject´s and his/hers collateral reports regarding subject´s offending and substance abuse. Psychopathy was associated with the extent of illicit drug abuse but not alcohol consumption. Psychopathy did not explain the discrepancy between subject´s and his/hers collateral´s reports regarding subject´s substance abuse. Psychopathic traits were positively associated with the number of self-reported offences committed by the subject. In regard to number of offences committed, the discrepancy between subject´s and collateral´s reports were greater with those subjects who had higher levels of psychopathic traits. The results further support the validity of psychopathy as a construct that is uniquely associated with juvenile delinquency and illicit drug abuse. In addition, this study lends support to notion that psychopathic individuals seem to lie about their actions mainly when they perceive they can somehow benefit from it.

Tutkielman tarkoituksena on pyrkiä selvittämään, millaisia seikkoja oikeustieteellisessä syyntakeisuusarvioinnissa tulisi ottaa nykyisenkaltaisessa mallissa huomioon. Vastuun erilaisia piirteitä pyritään tutkielmassa myös hahmottamaan psykopatian käsitteen avulla siten, että arvioidaan myös psykopaattien rikosoikeudellista vastuuta. Lisäksi tutkielman tarkoituksena on selvittää oikeustieteen ja oikeuspsykiatrian suhdetta niin käytännössä kuin nykyisen lainsäädännön valossa. Näkökulma tutkielmassa on ensisijaisesti voimassa olevasta oikeudesta lähtevä eli menetelmänä lainopillinen. Syyntakeisuusarviointeja koskevissa aiemmissa empiirisissä tutkimuksissa on noussut esiin huoli etenkin alentuneen syyntakeisuuden soveltamisalan kaventumisesta mielentilatutkimuksissa. Erityisesti suhtautuminen on muuttunut erilaisten persoonallisuushäiriöiden osalta. Arvioinnissa tapahtuneen muutoksen ongelmana on, että syyntakeisuuden alaa on laajennettu lääkäreiden päätöksellä ja ilman julkista tai oikeustieteellistä keskustelua. Lähtökohtana tulisikin pitää, että syyntakeisuusarvioinnin sisällön tulisi olla oikeustieteessä määritelty, eikä oikeustieteen tulisi automaattisesti omaksua esimerkiksi psykiatrisia kriteerejä. Tarkoituksena on välttää syyntakeisuusarvioinnin linjamuutokset ilman rikosoikeustieteen ja yksilön oikeuksien huomioimista. Syyntakeisuusarvioinnin on täytettävä syyllisyysperiaatteen ja oikeudenmukaisuuden vaatimukset, joista poikkeaminen yksilön vahingoksi tulisi avoimesti perustella. Lisäksi arvioinnin tulisi vastata rikosoikeudellisia rankaisemisen tavoitteita, eli olla yhtenevä vallitsevan rangaistusteorian kanssa. Toisaalta ihmisarvon kunnioittaminen edellyttää, että syyntakeisuuden alaa ei kavenneta liian suppeaksi, vaan huomioidaan myös yksilöt sairaudesta tai häiriöstä huolimatta toimijoina. Nämä seikat kuitenkin rajoittavat mahdollisuutta perustella rankaisemista preventiivisin syin. Lisäksi tämän tutkielman valossa Suomessa rangaistusteoriana vallitsevat välillinen yleispreventio sekä syyntakeisuusarvioinnissa keskeinen sovitusteoria edellyttävät, että syyntakeisuuden kynnysehtona on moraalinen toimijuus ja sitä kautta moraalinen vastuu. Koska välillisessä yleispreventiossa rangaistus on moite, ja tämä edellyttää myös rikosoikeuden säännöksiltä moraalista sisältöä, on myös johdonmukaista, että moraalinen toimijuuden merkitys rikosoikeudelle nähdään laajana. Moraalisen vastuun käsityksen tulisikin sisältää sekä kyky ymmärtää moraalisten toimintaperusteiden olemassaolo että kyky motivoitua moraaliperusteiden mukaiseen toimintaan. Rikosoikeudellinen vastuu siis edellyttää tässäkin mielessä normatiivista kyvykkyyttä. Koska rikosoikeudellisen vastuun katsotaan Suomessa edellyttävän syvää moraalista ymmärrystä, on myös psykopaatit kliinisesti havaittujen puutteidensa perusteella katsottava ainakin alentuneesti syyntakeisiksi. Toisaalta heidän haastavuutensa rikosoikeudelle auttaa myös rajaamaan, mitä syyntakeisuusarvioinnissa ei tule huomioida. Syyllisyysperiaatteeseen tukeutuvasta syyntakeisuusarvioinnista voidaan erottaa yhteisön etuja korostava vaarallisuusarviointi, jonka kautta voidaan täyttää myös välillisen yleisprevention tehokkuuden edellyttämät preventiiviset tarpeet. Syyntakeisuusarviointiin oikeudenmukaisuuden ja syyllisyysperiaatteen valossa ei tällöin kuulu myöskään henkilön persoonan arviointi. Kielletyn teon tekijän vaarallisuutta mahdollisesti osoittavat piirteet tulisikin arvioida osana yhteisön suojaamiseksi tarkoitettua vaarallisuusarviointia. Toisaalta vastausta siihen, mihin ymmärrys- ja sääntelykyvyn rajat asetetaan ei tämän tutkielman perusteella voida antaa, vaan ohjenuorat pysyvät hyvin arvioinnin sisältöä rajaavalla tasolla. Konkreettinen rajojen määrittäminen onkin näiden rajoitteiden mukainen ja perusteltu kriminaalipoliittinen arviointi. Korkeimman oikeuden oikeuskäytäntö on myös ollut syyntakeisuuden rajojen osalta suppeaa ja se on keskittynyt hyvin poikkeuksellisiin tapauksiin. Oikeustieteen linjan ja perusteluiden selkiyttämisen kannalta myös uusi oikeuskäytäntö olisi tervetullutta.

Aim of the study: Aim of the study was to examine whether there is a connection between psychopathy and the incidence of violent fantasies in normal population. A violent fantasy is defined as a thought that includes physical violence against another person. In previous research psychopathy has been associated with violent fantasies in criminal populations, and furthermore psychopathic traits are known to correlate with a greater risk of violent behaviour. However, little is known about associations between psychopathy and violent fantasies in normal population. In this study it was also examined whether psychopathic traits affect the emotional reactions that are generated by violent fantasies. Methods: The study was conducted by assessing four trait factors of psychopathy (erratic lifestyle, callous affect, interpersonal lifestyle, antisociality) as predictors of prevalence and incidence of psychopathy as well as magnitude of emotional reactions to violent fantasies. Analysing method was logistic regression. Effects of gender and age were controlled for in all analyses. Predictive power of the four traits was assessed simultaneously and separately while controlling for the other traits. Interactions between gender and the four traits were assessed. Results and conclusions: When all four psychopathy traits were examined simultaneously, all traits excluding erratic lifestyle predicted the prevalence of violent fantasies. Furthermore, all traits predicted the incidence of violent fantasies. However, these connections were small in magnitude and after controlling for all other traits only the connection between interpersonal lifestyle and incidence of violent fantasies remained statistically significant. Antisociality predicted higher levels of anger and anxiety as a reaction to violent fantasies. Callous affect predicted lower levels of anxiety. The results of this study suggest that there is a connection between psychopathy and violent fantasies also in normal population. However psychopathy is a weak predictor of violent fantasies. This weak predictive power can partly be explained by relative commonness of violent fantasies which is why other factors such as personal experiences of violence in life are stronger predictors of violent fantasies than personality.